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His tricks may be flamboyant, but Hermosillo himself is a man of few words, spoken softly during a demo at the Etobicoke complex they call Pizza Pizza University. The Toronto-based company is his sponsor.

In May, Hermosillo captured golds in the largest dough stretch category and team freestyle acrobatics at the Annual International Pizza Championship of Naples.

The Mexico City native says he had no idea what pizza even was when he moved to Los Angeles with his family at age 11. He eventually got a job in a pizza parlour. He became mesmerized by a worker there who could spin and toss, but the man refused to teach him how. So he taught himself, just four years ago, and started competing.

Besides Naples, the circuit includes world games in Las Vegas and in the northern Italy spa town of Salsomaggiore Terme. This year, Salsomaggiore also hosted the first quadrennial pizza Olympics, attracting 400 competitors from 41 countries.

Champs choreograph acrobatics set to music or even team up to form pizza-tossing pyramids. Their antics are a far cry from pizzaiolos, or pizza makers, nonchalantly tossing and stretching dough in their neighbourhood shops. As for the home cook, it is reassuring to note that traditional Neapolitan pizza is never tossed, but rather stretched sedately.

However, pizza doesn't belong to Italy anymore. It has been adopted by the world. In North America, statistics reflect our deep hunger for pizza: 100 acres of it eaten daily, 61,000-plus pizzerias in the U.S. selling 3 billion pies a year, Canada's own Pizza Pizza processing 28 million orders a year at a rate of 50 per minute.

We not only count the ways we love pizza, but the ways we disagree over the perfect pie. Tossed, stretched or rolled? Thick, thin or deep-dish? Traditional or modern toppings? (Pepperoni is the single most popular.)

"Pizza can be anything you want it to be," says Dianne Jacob, a San Francisco food writer collaborating on a grilled pizza cookbook with Chicago chef Craig Priebe.

At a conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals last spring, she regaled an audience with tales of toppings from around the world: tuna, onions and olives in Germany, red herring in Russia, corn and squid in Japan, green peas in Brazil.

Her co-author, meanwhile, says they realized anything was possible when the Hawaiian pizza with pineapple arrived way back when. "The crust is a plate – anything can go on top," Priebe says.

Lately, pizza makers have been playing around with crusts. Think whole-wheat, rice, spelt. Morphing the sauce from tomato to, say, tikka masala is a continuing trend.

Pizza Pizza got ahead by stepping on the toes of tradition, with new offerings ranging from sweet Thai chili sauce to halal meat. The company started 40 years ago with a single takeout and delivery joint at Wellesley and Parliament Sts. Legend has it that the chain's "967-11-11" jingle became so famous that it served as proof of Canadian citizenship at border crossings.

There are now 579 Pizza Pizza and affiliated Pizza 73 outlets across Canada, all supplied from a central commissary in Etobicoke that stays open 24/7. They grind 80,000 to 10,0000 kilograms of cheese a week, says commissary director Brian Payne.

"We can't fall behind," he says.

The depot is also home to Pizza Pizza University, a training centre with a test kitchen and mock store.

"We try to make it as real as possible," says training director Ben Campoli.

So, no acrobatics with the dough. Except for Hermosillo.

He has his own tricks. His secret dough is firmer, more rubbery, less sticky than the real thing. It's not the kind you'd want to eat. He practises with rubber disks, too.

"Just to amaze people," as he says.

Pizza dough primer

We all have a dash of pizza chef in us – or pizzaiolo in Italian.
Here are some tips and techniques to help make your pizza the best it
can be. Just don't call it a pizza pie – that's redundant.

Cold dough is hard to stretch and doesn't bake properly. Let it sit out until it is about 65F (18C).

Begin working with dough by plopping it into a big bowl of flour and patting/squeezing at the edges to form a disk.

Transfer
the disk to a work surface dusted with flour. For dessert pizzas, dust
the surface with a sugar-cinnamon mixture instead.

Pinch and
flatten the edges of the dough with both thumbs. Then walk your fingers
across the dough, stepping with the tips to flatten and enlarge the
circle. Turn the dough as you go, to keep it round. For a thinner
crust, lay one palm in the middle of the pizza, then pull and stretch
with the other hand. Rotate and repeat.

Some cooks say a rolling
pin "bruises" the dough (inconsistent pressure leads to uneven baking,
which leads to freckles and brown spots). Others say it's the best way
to create a super-thin crust, especially for the grill.

If dough starts to resist stretching, cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for five minutes.

Dough
can be "conditioned," or brushed with flavoured oil, before adding
toppings. This is meant to assist in browning, combat sogginess and add
flavour. Some cooks swear conditioning prevents toppings from sliding
off. In a test involving two identical homemade pizzas, the conditioned
crust fared slightly better. Sample conditioner: two tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil, one pressed garlic clove, 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
Brush this mixture lightly on the dough right to the edges.

Transfer
dough with toppings to the oven using a pizza peel, a wood or sometimes
metal paddle with a long handle. If you don't have one, use the bottom
of a baking sheet. To transfer, lay a large flap of dough over your
knuckles and quickly turn onto the peel. Then add toppings.

Cornmeal,
flour or semolina are usually sprinkled on the peel so the dough won't
stick and will slide into the oven easily. But these can cause gritty
or burnt spots on the bottom of the crust. A better idea: put parchment
on the peel. The pizza will be easy to slide into and out of the oven.
You can cut parchment to desired pizza size, put it on the peel,
transfer the dough on top, then adjust the diameter using the paper as
a guide.

Crust

The ultimate goal is a crust that's crispy and
chewy, not leathery. Make your own pizza dough or buy it frozen. "Dough
is probably the simplest thing you will ever make. It is also the most
complicated thing you'll make," commissary director Brian Payne says
amid the slapping and whirring in the computerized dough room in Pizza
Pizza's Etobicoke plant.

A few cooks argue for bread flour, but
most say that has too much gluten, or protein, which makes the crust
tough. Unbleached all-purpose flour is a basic choice. Purists swear by
Italian flour classified as 00 (finely milled). Optimal temperature for
pizza flour is 65F to 70F (18C to 21C).

Too much kneading builds
gluten and toughens the dough. Dough should be a bit soft and sticky –
"almost like a baby's butt," says Chicago chef Craig Criebe.

Whole-wheat
dough is more robust. Add up to one part whole-wheat flour to four
parts white flour to make dough easier to handle on a barbecue.

If
dough's too sticky, the crust will be chewy. If it's too dry, the crust
will be like cardboard. Humidity in the air affects the amount of water
you must add to the flour. Start with a minimal amount.

Some
cooks say the type of water you use makes no discernible difference.
Others swear by spring water. Proud pizza lovers in cities like New
York and Chicago swear their tap water gives their crusts a distinctive
flavour.

To pick up sticky dough, moisten your hands.

Refrigerating dough overnight boosts flavour and makes it less likely to tear.

At
Pizza Pizza, liquid nitrogen is used to cool the dough to 3C, similar
to fridge temperature. It lasts seven to 10 days that way.

Freeze large amounts of dough in individual portions. Defrost in the fridge.

If prebaking a crust, prick the dough all over with a fork to minimize bubbling.

You can grill crusts ahead of time, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate them up to three days, or freeze them.

Toppings

Spread sauce and toppings to within 1/2 to 1 inch of edge of dough.

Ladle sauce into middle of dough. Spread gently, skimming the surface with the ladle's bottom and swirling outward.

Grated cheese goes further than shredded cheese. "You don't need as
much as you think," says Pizza Pizza training director Ben Campoli.
Chopping cheese in a food processor with the metal blade gives the
closest approximation to the large grate used by Pizza Pizza. Sprinkle
it over dough in circular motions.

Pizza Pizza mixes cheese with
dried herbs. This adds flavour and makes it a bit gritty, so it won't
clump. At home, add 1 tablespoon of an Italian herb blend per pound of
cheese.

For dessert pizza, topping the dough with a bit of
mozzarella, say about 1/2 cup, helps stop the crust from puffing during
prebaking but doesn't influence the flavour too much.

The top
tomato for pizza is the San Marzano. Thick-skinned, with a flavour
described as bittersweet, this plum tomato is grown in volcanic soil
near Naples. Canned ones are sold in some supermarkets here, such as
the online Grocery Gateway.

Toppings with lots of moisture, such as mushrooms or fresh tomatoes, should be added last. Drain sliced fresh tomatoes.

For
a nifty presentation, instead of tossing toppings all over each other,
place two ropes of dough across the crust in an X shape, then put a
different topping in each segment.

Equipment

Make dough by hand, or use a stand mixer (with a dough hook) or bread machine. Last choice: a food processor.

A
granite counter, because of inconsistencies in the stone, is better
than a super-smooth surface for kneading and stretching dough.

Hold
your pizza peel firmly at the hilt, insert deeply into the oven, then
tilt and shake slightly to eject pizza. If your peel has a long handle,
rest your forearm along it as a bolster.

Use a baking stone
made of clay or ceramic to create even heat and absorb moisture. Buy
the largest that will fit in your oven, at least 1/2 inch thick.
Preheat 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the oven temperature. Bake pizza
at 400F to 500F. When pizza stones were hard to find, aficionados used
unglazed tiles.

A pizza screen (metal baking sheet with
perforations) is an inferior alternative to the pizza peel and stone.
It does help with pizzas with heavy toppings and grilled pizzas. Oil
the screen to prevent sticking.

Pizza can be transferred directly to the oven rack.

Don't
cover cooked pizza with foil to keep it warm. This promotes sogginess.
It's better to reheat for a couple of minutes in a 500F oven.

Cut with a pizza wheel. The rolling blade should be at least four inches in diameter.

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